Humans Naturally Follow Crowd Behavior(online.wsj.com)
online.wsj.com
Humans Naturally Follow Crowd Behavior
http://online.wsj.com/articles/humans-naturally-follow-crowd-behavior-1410543908
7 comments
Wouldn't that be the opposite of crowd behavior? If most people are not looking up, and only a few people are looking up, then looking up is not following the crowd.
One of the deepest desires people have is to belong to a group. For the vast majority of history, isolation from a group meant death. Therefor people have a natural instinct to follow the behavior of a group even if it's something they wouldn't do on their own (like riot after their sports team wins/loses). Seeing someone do something also gives people the feeling of approval, whether valid or not.
Every so often, this is observation is re-observed as if its a new revelation.
Just following the crowd.
This has to do with a lot more than crowd conformance. All the examples cited reduce to quickly reacting to faces, which governs many other behaviors, like fight/flight survival instincts, emotions, negotiation, socialization, etc.
> a few ringers simply joined the crowd
That isn't the right word... a better word is "confederate".
That isn't the right word... a better word is "confederate".
Duh
For those behind the WSJ paywall, you could search the article title in google and follow the result link from there. That would will give you a limited trial for their locked content...
Search link here: http://bit.ly/1oNQolR
Or follow the crowd behavior and create an account.
"Sure In one study, a few ringers simply joined the crowd and stared up at a spot in the sky for 60 seconds. Then the researchers recorded and analyzed the movements of the people around them. The scientists found that within seconds hundreds of people coordinated their attention in a highly systematic way. People consistently stopped to look toward exactly the same spot as the ringers."
This hardly says 'Humans naturally follow crowd behavior". It more says humans investigate usual behavior. Of course if people start looking up around a person will wonder want is going on, as this is unusual. The same as you would look at a person doing anything unusual like dancing/stripping in a crowd etc. The difference with people all looking up is you have to mimic them to investigate their unusual behavior. I hardly think if these ringers started hoping on one foot that hundreds of people around them would to. The crowd would largely look at them, not follow them.